Red Dead Online: 7 MAJOR Issues Rockstar Must Address
4. Survival Mechanics Just Don't Work Online
Rockstar
In Red Dead Redemption 2's single-player, survival was a priority. As Arthur Morgan, players had to ensure that not only they stayed fit and healthy, but that the camp did too. It added a whole new level of immersion to Rockstar's typical blend of third-person open world exploration, and though there were occasions were it proved tedious, for the most part, it proved to be a success.
That being said, it's unlikely many players were asking for the survival mechanics to be brought across to Online, where death is infinitely less impactful and a repetitive occurrence. No one wants to spend their hard-earned dollar on oatcakes and tins of baked beans when they want to dive in and outfit their character with a whole host of different looks, and given GTA Online placed no restrictions on letting players do just that, it's disappointing to see Red Dead do the exact opposite.
Surviving out in the wild with your pals sounds like a great idea, but if Rockstar are dead set on retaining the feature, it might be a good idea to segregate servers based on those who want to mess around with hunger meters online, and those who don't.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
